MacPherson: Welcome to the land of fuzz, fishing and footballBack to video

Graham DeLaet, you might have noticed, will compete for Canada at the Rio Olympics without his great, long beard. The Weyburn-born professional golfer shaved it off, and not because it was interfering with his backswing. The beard had to go, he says, because his baby twins, Roscoe and Lyla, were pulling on it.

Good for them. The beard did not flatter DeLaet. It made him look like an Old Testament Prophet, which nobody wants on the golf course:

“Hear the word of the Lord, O Israel …”

Thwack!

“Fore.”

It was for similar reasons I shaved off a regrettable moustache when our kids were babies. They liked to grab it, sparse as it was, with their sticky little hands and drag me around the room. I am better off without a moustache anyway, as are most men. The only ones allowed to grow a moustache should be undercover police, dictators and Tom Selleck.

Great, long beards should likewise be restricted, in this case to Billy Gibbons, those Duck Dynasty guys and adherents of certain religious orders. Notably missing from the list: Graham DeLaet.

With his beard out of the way, I predict DeLaet will lead Canada to an Olympic gold medal in Rio. Then he’ll come back and light up the PGA Tour. Then comes a big endorsement deal with Gillette.

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Top golfers from other countries mostly are taking a pass on Rio. They’re afraid of the Zika virus, apparently, and less than thrilled by the Olympic prize money: Zero. Their fear and greed will haunt them on the tour while DeLaet tees off from the moral high ground.

MOVING ON TO FISHING, everyone I know who has been up north this summer has reeled in fish galore. Big walleye and trophy pike are lining up by size to be caught, I am told, with the biggest in front.

I also am told, however, that fish are not the only things biting like crazy up north. Mosquitoes, horseflies and blackflies reportedly have never been more abundant or more ferocious. Deep Woods Off only incites them.

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Fish would consider this rough justice.

FINALLY, AS PROMISED, football: The Saskatchewan Roughriders are rebuilding this season with a new coaching staff and an almost entirely new roster. This always takes longer than fans would like. They will need patience.

A source of comfort might be the great hockey coach Mike Babcock. He happened to be in Saskatoon the other day, making one of his frequent, hometown appearances for a worthy cause, in this case KidSport. His generosity matches his coaching record.

After winning multiple Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings and multiple gold medals in international play, Babcock moved last year to coach the famously terrible Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are a rocky shoal littered with the wreckage of successive coaches. Did Babcock turn them around?

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No. In his first season as coach, the Leafs actually slipped a little, finishing as the absolute worst team in the NHL.

Has anyone given up on Babcock?

Not at all. His experience in Toronto only confirms how difficult it is even for a great coach to rebuild a really bad team.

Like Babcock, Chris Jones, the Rider’s new coach and GM, is an established winner. What they’re not are magicians. Dentists is more like it.

“If you think there’s no pain coming, there’s pain coming,” Babcock warned when he took charge of the Leafs. The rebuild, he predicted, will take twice as long and be twice as hard as anyone expects. This from a guy who is almost relentlessly upbeat.

The Riders at least should be easier to rebuild than the Leafs. There are more good football players than good hockey players available, and only eight other teams in the CFL to compete against, while the Leafs compete against 29 teams.

It is a fine line, of course, between a rebuilding team and a bad team. The difference is not always apparent on the scoreboard or in the standings. That’s the painful part. When it doesn’t hurt anymore, you know the team was rebuilding.

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